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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2017)
A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2017 COMMUNITY Lab work leads to Friends recall cross-continental trip awkward interaction By TAMMY MALGESINI COMMUNITY EDITOR I t seems there are certain work and certainly had no in- occupations where people terest in dealing with this in the think you’re always on duty. work bathroom. The last thing I I’m sure doctors get it all the wanted to do was carry around time — running into patients a bottle of my own pee. at church or an athletic event. I produced the required Some people think noth- specimen and exited ing of showing off a rash the laboratory’s bath- and wanting free medi- room. Standing there cal advice. holding a clear plastic As a journalist, I often bag which contained a have people approach clear plastic container me about doing stories with my urine, a wom- — at community events an who was getting her (that I’m not covering), Tammy blood drawn by a dif- at the grocery store, at Malgesini ferent lab worker was a restaurant eating din- INSIDE MY staring at me. I smiled, SHOES ner and even standing because despite the at Interpath Laboratory caffeine deprivation, holding a container of my own I’m generally a decent human urine. being. Going to the lab to provide She said hello and intro- urine and blood samples al- duced herself. I was dumb- ready messes with my routine founded — remember, I’m — especially the tests that re- standing there with a plastic bag quire fasting. with a container of my own pee. It’s a delicate balancing act “OK,” I replied. All I want- to go the required number of ed was for my lab lady to hours without consuming food, re-appear so I could unload my while drinking enough water to specimen and be on my way. provide a urine specimen and However, that didn’t occur and still be a civil human being in the woman then proceeded public in a caffeine-deprived to tell me she was with some state because I haven’t had my community group in town and morning Pepsi. she wanted to talk to me about Because of my early week her club. double deadlines, it’s most con- I just stood there — fl abber- venient for me to do lab work gasted that someone wanted on a Thursday or Friday. On me to engage in a discussion Sept. 1, the stars were fi nally while I was standing there aligning. I woke up in desper- holding my own pee. Appar- ate need of Pepsi, but it had ently, she noticed my reaction been nearly two weeks since and asked, “Are you OK?” the doctor called in the order It was surreal. I’m not sure for lab work. I knew I had to how long the encounter lasted take care of it. but the other lab worker inter- I made it to Interpath and rupted the awkward interaction the phlebotomist draws my and directed me to my lab lady. blood sample. Since the urinal- And, I wasn’t OK. I hadn’t ysis didn’t require fasting, she eaten for nearly 12 hours, I was said I could take the bag and in desperate need of Pepsi and specimen bottle with me to do did I mention, I was holding a the UA at home if I wasn’t able container of my own pee. to produce on demand. If I had ——— planned to go home, that may Contact Tammy at tmalge- have been a viable option. sini@eastoregonian.com or However, I was headed to 541-564-4539. Described as an amazing adventure, a pair of Herm- iston men recently remi- nisced about a bicycle trip that took them from Seattle to Montreal, Canada. Richard Hunt and Jer- ry Cullers met as grade schoolers at West Park El- ementary School. The trip, which was just over 50 years ago, was almost de- railed after an incident with a train. “As kids in Hermiston, we always rode our bikes around town,” Cullers said. “We also rode out to San- dy Beach and places like that.” Their families ended up moving to separate towns in Washington within a couple of weeks of each other — Cullers’ family to the Renton area and Scar- lett’s to Tacoma. The fast friends maintained contact, often spending the week- end at each other’s house. As young teenagers, the pair even rode their bikes to Hermiston on a couple of occasions. Scarlett and Cullers had been to the World’s Fair in Seattle and after seeing information about Expo ‘67 on TV, they hatched a plan to make the journey. Their parents told them they needed to make de- tailed plans, which includ- ed writing to Dan Evans, Washington’s governor at the time. The 17-year-olds re- ceived fi nancial support from the governor’s offi ce, who also put them in touch with offi cials from the Se- attle World’s Fair. The con- nections continued, which led to the Leo Scherrer Co. of Seattle, who donated bi- cycles for the trip. “We ran into a whole lot I ntroducIng P honak d Irect c onnectIvIty h earIng a Ids • Direct connectivity to any cell phone * • Hearing aids used as a wireless head- set for hands-free calls • Excellent TV sound quality1 with hearing aids turned into wireless TV headphones PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY WANDA HUNT Hermiston residents Richard Scarlett and Jerry Cullers look through scrapbooks, articles and photos chronicling a 2,800-mile bicycle trip they took 50 years ago as teenagers. of support,” Scarlett said. On June 17, 1967, a contingency of mayors at- tending a convention saw the duo off at the base of the Space Needle, the site of the 1962 World’s Fair. During the trip, they camped, stayed in the homes of mayors and oc- casionally in motels. The most unusual accommoda- tions included the back of a U-Haul type truck and a jail cell — although they weren’t actually incarcer- ated. The teens mapped out plans for the roughly 2,800-mile journey. It in- cluded stops to meet offi - cials, speak at civic groups and participate in youth activities. They anticipated it would take 40 days — it ended up taking 62 days. “We had a route laid out pretty good,” Cullers said. “Then, once we got started, we found out that was pret- ty rigorous.” Between running into inclement weather and the constant riding, Cullers said they found themselves wanting to slow down to enjoy the trip. However, that led to them becoming behind schedule. Train nearly derails journey Eating breakfast one morning in Harlem, Mon- tana, Scarlett and Cullers were trying to fi gure out how they were going to make up time. Noticing a railroad yard across the street, the teens decided to hop a train and ride about 200 miles to Culbertson, Montana. They easily climbed aboard while rail workers were switching cars. How- ever, when the train didn’t slow down at their destina- tion, Cullers and Scarlett were faced with the dilem- ma of how to get off. From opposite sides of the train car, the teens climbed down the ladders, dropped their bikes and then jumped off — but not at the same time. Banged up and separat- ed by several miles, neither boy knew where the other was. Fortunately, a woman and her daughter happened upon Scarlett. They drove until they found Cullers. Relieved to be reunited, the boys were banged up. Their injuries resulted in an overnight hospital stay for Cullers and three nights for Scarlett. Serving as goodwill ambassadors, they didn’t want to share about the misadventure with the train. When interviewed by newspaper reporters, they were faced with having to explain the delay. “The articles about my injuries said I sprained my ankle when I stepped in a gopher hole,” Scarlett said. Their parents insisted they go back and pedal the distance where they had hopped the train. “They said if we are go- ing to do this trip right, we had to ride that stretch on our bikes,” Cullers said. When their pocket change dwindled, the teens worked for a few days at the North Dakota State Fair. Other fun along the way included water skiing, bowling and other activi- ties with teens. Cullers said that the peo- ple they met along the way were friendly and went out of their way to help them. “It was probably the most adventurous thing I’ve ever done,” Scarlett said. “It was the trip of a lifetime.” FLY IN STYLE TO THE 2017 ROUND UP! Phonak direct connectivity hearing aids offer universal connectivity to any cell phone* regardless of the brand or operating system. 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